MORRISTOWN - Kevin Corbett checked his watch as the No. 872 train, bound for Hoboken, stopped at the Morristown Train Station at 7:39 a.m.

"On time," he said with a smile.

When the trains don't stop on time, the buck stops on his desk. Corbett, a Mendham resident, was appointed president and CEO of NJ Transit by Gov. Phil Murphy shortly after his inauguration in January 2018.

A regular rider of the Morristown line to his office at NJ Transit in Newark, Corbett arrived at the station early Friday morning to discuss his hot-seat tenure to date, his own commute and upcoming tests of positive train control, a mandatory automatic-braking technology on New Jersey railways that faces a daunting December 2020 deadline for national implementation and compliance.

NJ Transit president and CEO Kevin Corbett on the platform at the Morristown Train Station for daily commute to his office in Newark on August 23, 2019.(Photo: Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com-USA Today Network)

Unique aspects of the Morris-Essex line, he said, made it the perfect choice for the initial rounds of testing the positive train control system installed last year.

"If you go between Hoboken and Dover, we have every possible condition you'll see on a rail line," he said. "If you're in the front end of the train, going between Summit down to Millburn and further on, it's almost like a roller-coaster ride. People aren't aware of how much elevation you gain or lose. There are a number of conditions on this line that are scattered among the others."

Working with industry leaders he knows well from his long career in transportation, Corbett said he's finding the competing agencies are cooperating more than in the past to complete the system, mandated by Congress, designed to automatically stop a train before accidents occur. The system is specifically designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derailments due to excessive train speed or misaligned track switches.

"All the railroads, if you look at a 20-year period, we've had a lot of ups and downs," Corbett said. "A lot of times that works against cooperation. We've been starved for years," he said of funding. "We've had our own sort-of transit 'Hunger Games,' and everyone's been fighting for survival."

NJ Transit president and CEO Kevin Corbett on the platform at the Morristown Train Station for daily commute to his office in Newark on August 23, 2019.(Photo: Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com-USA Today Network)

Focusing on New Jersey issues, Corbett was tasked by Murphy to rebuild what the governor said was a "national disgrace" after years of decline under previous administrations.

"We inherited as system that was broken down, demoralized," he said. "No engineers. They stopped training engineers. We had no five-year capital plan. So really, it was like rebuilding when Conrail went bankrupt, and they had to start from scratch. There's no shortage of things to keep me busy."

Assets are being added, including new buses, train cars and operators, but still, "We have 50-year-old engines, 40-year-old cars. The maintenance on them is like having those Cadillacs or Fords you see in Havana that you're trying to keep going."

Ridership is up, Corbett says, due in part to a changing demographic of young people moving to areas including Morristown and South Orange, where the establishment of transit hubs on Midtown Direct rail lines has encouraged redevelopment.

Corbett pointed across the street to a Morristown housing development that used to be a parking lot and said: "You see that all along the [Morris and Essex Line], the development along the M&E has been tremendous. Morristown, 20, 25 years ago, was a very different place."

Corbett acknowledges many people in Morris County complain they are underserved by mass transit, but said other changes in modern transportation are providing a solution.

"Parking at certain stations can be problematic, but one of the big changes we see, including right here in Morristown, is people using Uber and Lyft for last-mile, first-mile," he said.

NJ Transit executive director Kevin Corbett on the platform at the Morristown Train Station for daily commute to his office in Newark on August 23, 2019.(Photo: Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com-USA Today Network)

He praised Summit for its new program that helps residents pay for Lyft rides to and from the station instead of adding more parking lots.

"A lot of my colleagues in other railroads around the country say Uber and Lyft are taking passengers away from them," Corbett said. "We see, in fact, that it's bringing a lot of people to hubs like Morristown."

Even with limitations, Corbett said ridership is growing. NJ Transit has experienced a 3 percent increase in ridership growth, he said, adding part of the growth comes from commuters tired of the congestion on New Jersey highways.

"That's our competition in a way," he said. "But I think with all the road traffic, even with all the trouble we've had last year with positive train control and engineer shortages, etc., no matter how frustrated you may get at times with rail, you go back to driving, and you quickly go back to rail. There's only so much you can do with road congestion."

His own daily commute gives him a unique perspective, often sitting in the front car, chatting up the engineers and other personnel.

"You just talk to them," he said. "Not looking for them to rat out anybody, just to know what is going on during the week, get different perspectives on different things that happen."

Lines other than the Morris-Essex, and their history, also present challenges.

"We're the third-largest rail system in the country and it's a complex one, because we are the legacy of the Erie Lackawanna, Central Jersey and Pennsylvania railroads," he said. "So we're testing like crazy, like every other railroad in the country, with all the other commuter lines pulling together, working together, rather than trying to fight for scraps. I think we're making progress with that."